I've always wanted to cook something on Himalayan pink salt, but I just can't for the life of me tell you why. I knew that flavor-wise there couldn’t be any real difference between cooking on pink salt, and simply seasoning with it, but that didn’t seem to matter.Just the idea of cooking on what's basically a slab of crystal, appealed to some indefinable internal force inside of me. Having said that, I still reserve the right to continue to mock those people that wear crystals for their healing properties, because that's just nuts.
Anyway, back to these shrimp. As I summarize in the video: it was fun, I'm glad I did it, but I don't think I would do it again, unless it was for some showy, interactive first course.
There's no doubt letting your guests cook their own shrimp on hot, pink salt would definitely be a neat way to start off a dinner party.Above and beyond the Himalayan pink salt experiment, the ultra-simple shrimp preparation seen here can be easily adapted to your trusty non-crystal saute pan.
You'll be pleasantly surprised how good seared shrimp are with nothing more than a pinch of cumin and cayenne. Just don’t forget the salt! Enjoy.
Note: After you cook on it, the salt block can be scraped clean, rinsed off (even though they said not to), and wiped dry. It's a completely antiseptic surface and can be reused as many times as possible.
Ingredients:
1 pound large shrimp
1 teaspoon grapeseed oil
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt to taste if using conventional cooking methods
25 comments:
I don't get it... what's the point of cooking on salt?
Did you read the post? There is no point.
a neat idea!
love pink salt!
Chef John, so do you just rinse the salt off and reuse it again?
I heard you shouldn't heat those in the oven. You should heat them on the stovetop, then put them in the oven. As they may explode.
How do you clean the salt block? I'm just curious.
I just scraped it, rinsed it off and wiped it dry! It's completely antiseptic.
The directions said to heat in the oven. Don't see the difference, heat is heat. why would it explode in an oven, but not on a flame?
Interesting - Wikipedia says the salt is pink because there is iron rust mixed in with the salt.
Kind of gross, but we do need our iron!
Looks fun!
Q: Where do they get shrimp in the Himalayas?
A: Fedex.
I heard a story about a guy from Pennsylvania who relocated to the Bay Area - Silicon Valley, I think. He went to a local import shop to buy a block of this same salt for what sounds to be this same recipe. While in the shop he bought a beautiful place mat with a yak on it, thinking the mat was from Tibet. He invited some new Tibetan friends for a special dinner.
His friends noted immediately that the mat was not Tibetan, but South American.
To make matters worse, he put the hot block on the mat and - you guessed it - singed the Doily Llama.
Jim
Jim, that was no "grounds for divorce" but still very strong. ;)
I think you can put it in the oven as long as you start with the oven cold (like other stones) Plus if the instuctions said so, it must be true :P
me thinks, that since the direct heat method transferred too much salt to the shrimp? it might work better with a larger piece of fish or meat? what do you think?
sure, that will work, but the main issue was the too small block for that many shrimp.
You have a maid ?
No. I wish!
hahaha. Your YouTube fans think you have a maid many of the comments are of total shock. I guess the ones that aren't your true fans can't discern your sarcasm from not sarcasm.
I LOVE PINKsea salt. it has such a better taste than any other kind of salt. and ITS GOOD FOR YOU!
I kinda wanna lick the salt block after...but I also kinda don't...
Being one of those nutty crystal wearing fans, I've always wanted to do this as well. I've priced those salt blocks and they've been rather out of my price range, and especially difficult to justify as a splurge with not knowing what to expect from the results. So thank you very much for taking the edge off of my craving to experiment with one.
I can see that there would be somewhat limited recipe options as anything releasing a lot of liquid could result in being overly salted.
You are the best. I love the cheesy humor, sherpas and crystal wearers, etc.
Thanks for the great video.
Blessings,
Claudine
Where would one be able to get these salt blocks outside of the US? I have never seen them here in Europe..
Are these things affordable enough to buy/order a few for testing?
did you google? lots of websites should sell
hi chef John I live in San Francisco and I think you live here as well so I wanted to know where did you buy the pink salt block
rainbow grocery! :-)
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